VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

I raced to the top of Vermont today, 4.3 miles up the Mt. Mansfield toll road.  The weather was good for a race, ~68F, 20C at the start, and 56F, 13C at the summit.  The first 3/10th of a mile was paved, and the last 4 miles were on a well groomed dirt/gravel road.  There were some wickedly steep sections including the paved section, and at 1.5 miles, and at 3 miles.  It was a brutal challenge, and I spent much of the race walking.  My mile splits went were 14, 15, 17, 17.  I raced up the mountain about 5/3 slower than if I were running on flats.  I finished in 1:06:31, 28/36 in my age group.

It was our hottest day of the year so far, 89F, 32C, and for some unknown reason, I decided to run some hill repeats.  Near my house I have a 1K loop that includes a 50m hill that is at ~25% grade.  I set out with water at a comfortable pace.  Loop one was fine, but by loop 2 I was struggling.  The third loop had me melting into the pavement.  I decided not to test my limits any further, and lumbered ~1K more to our neighborhood pool where I just let my body collapse into the refreshing water.

I’ve set a fall race schedule beginning in 3+ weeks with a 4.3 mile race to the "Top of Vermont"  3000 feet elevation gain to the highest peak in Vermont.  I figured that the best way to get started was with hill repeats.  I Begin and ended with a 1K warmuo, and then ran a 1K loop that began with a wickedly steep hill up to the airport fence.  I completed 5 loops, before returning home.   My body felt great, all aches and pains that I had 5 weeks ago were gone.